Reenforced awning seam



Mar. 13,1923. 1,448,516.

W. E. BOUTON.

REENFORCED AWNING SEAM. V|LEn`1AN.24. 1921.

Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

einen Application filed January 24, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.' l

Be it known that I, l'TiLLiAM E. BOUTON. a citizen ot the United States,residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful Improvements in Reenforced AwningScams, of which the following is a specilication.

The present invention relates to improvements in reenforced awning seamsand has for an object to provide, in conjunction with the overlapped andinterlocked edges of awning cloth sections, a reinforcing tape ot asubstantial .vidth extending beneath the interlocked and overlappededges and to appreciable distances at both sides of such edges, the tapebeing secured not only to the cloth or canvas sect-ions of the awning byrows of stitching near its longitudinal edges, but further by rows ofstitching at the intermediate portion of the tape which secure it to theoverlapped and interlocked edges at the seam.

Although the invention is entitled and lreferred to as a reenforcedawning seam, it is to be understood that the invention is not restrictedto this particular use but extends to all cloth constructions, and moreparticularly to seaming in tents and heavy wearing apparel generally.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be morefully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed outin the claim appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or correspondingparts throughout the several views,

F ig. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a reentorced seam constructedaccording to the present invention;

2 is a bottom plan view of the same; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 4 and 5 designate twopieces or sections of awning cloth or canvas or tent or wearing apparelmaterial; and in accordance with the usual practice in awningoonstruction, the adjoining edges at the seam are overlapped andinterlocked, as more particularly illustrated in Fig. 3.

At 6 is represented the overturned edge of the section 4, while 7represents the edge of the section 5 which is returned upon itseltlnnnnroncnn AWNING snare.

Serial No. 439,529.

and interlocked with the overturned edge 6. This construction providesfour thicknesses at the seam, and moreover yields an interlock betweenthe edges which is found in practice to form a strong constructionnecessary to withstand strains and stresses to which awnings, tents andthe like are subjected in usage.

According' to the invention I employ a long piece of tape of substantialwidth having `an' offset intermediate portion 8 fitting about the seamformed by the overlapped and interlocked edges 6 and 7 and whichcontributes an additional thickness to the seam reinforcing it. Thesides 9 and 10 ot the tape extend at considerable distances to the sidesof the seam and lie flat against the adjacent faces of the clothsections 4 and 5. Lines of stitching 11 and 12 pass through the sides 9and 10 of the tape and through the cloth sections 4 and 5 by which theseparts are secured together. These lines of stitching are made close tothe longitudinal edges of the tape and at considerable distances fromthe intermediate offset portion 8.

Further rows of stitching 13 and 14 are made to pass through theintermediate offset portion 8 of the tape and through the variousoverlapped and interlocked edges 6 and 7 ot the cloth sections so as tobind these parts in, their interlocked and overlapped relation and atthe same time to secure the intermediate portion of the tape thereto bymeans of substantially parallel lines of stitching that are situatedcomparatively close together and which therefore form an exceedinglystrong structure.

The seam, it will be noted, is very comg pact at the overlapped andinterlocked edges of the cloth and at the intermediate offset portion ofthe tape 8, the stitching 13 and 14 being placed close together so thatwhen stresses occur either longitudinally or transversely in the clothor canvas they do not to any material extent stretch the portions of thecloth and tape directly at the seam.

The side portions 9 and 10 of the tape which are'stitched to the clothwill yield to a certain extent in order to absorb these stresses in thecomparatively great areas existing between the side rows of stitching 11and 12 and the intermediate rows 13 and 14 and consequently strainswhich tend to rip the stitching will be diminished greatly in effectthrough this distance. Moreover the yio 1 claim. t

bent portions of the sides of the tape Will tend to straighten ont understrains and this Will further relieve the seam of any destructiveeffect. l l

The taped seam as I have constructed it is very useful for heavyconstructions such as awnings, tents, Wearing apparel and the like, butit may be used With advantage in various yother fabric structures.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in thedetails of construction and design of the above specificailly describedembodiment of this invention without departing from vthe spirit there--such changes and modifications beingre.

of stricted only by the scope of the following What is claimed isz- Anawning construction comprising ad]a cent pieces of canvas `having theirmeeting edges overlapped and folded toward one an- Wardly other, thefolded edges being inter-locked forming four plies of material at thejoint, the outer plies o-f material being olfset above and belo-W theplane occupied by the canvas pieces, a reinforcing tape lying beneaththe awning and having an intermediate doWn- Wardly off-set portionadapted to fit closely in contact with the lowermost ply of the jointand having its edges extending in con-v tact with the under portions ofthe two canvas pieces, two spaced apart intermediate lines of stitchingpassing through the four plies of the joint and opposite longitudinaledges thereof, said stitching made to also pass through lateral parts ofthe tape, and other lines of stitching passing through the raisedlateral portions of the tape and the respective rpieces of canvas;

WILLIAM ln'i'aNEsT BOUTON.

dovvoff-set intermediate portion of te

